Former England international Gary Lineker, now a broadcaster with the BBC, added his voice to calls for the tounrnament to be stripped from Qatar and backed Australia's claim.

Lineker tweeted yesterday: "I think FIFA need another vote. The best candidate for 2022, given 2018 is in Europe was, and still is, Australia."

Gallop said the fact the eastern seaboard is hosting the Asian Cup next year meant infrastructure would largely be in place, and that Australia was more than capable of preparing for a World Cup at short notice.

"It's too early to tell whether that opens the door in terms of Australia's position but it's a bit of a watch-this-space at this stage," Gallop told SEN.

"I think it's a serious development; they are serious allegations and we are looking to see what the response to that will be.

"We would have to make a decision, but we are not at that stage just yet. We need to get more information about what's taken place in the past 48 hours."

But he admitted FFA staff had been working behind the scenes to make certain Australia was considered a major player if there was a re-vote.

"We have been heavily involved in this for months, in terms of what Mr Garcia has been investigating," Gallop said.

"We have been involved in interviews, production of documents and also following carefully what's been happening overseas for quite some time now.

"I'm sure when we are in Brazil for FIFA congress we will find out more information."

The Sunday Times claimed it had obtained numerous documents that says show former FIFA executive committee member Mohamed Bin Hammam of Qatar made payments totalling around $US5 million to football officials in return for votes.